The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art. In the planning and execution of aircraft flight operations, it is desirable for both ground and aircraft systems to have access to current, accurate meteorological information. Although some aircraft collect and send data during flight to various ground systems, many if not most aircraft are not equipped to provide current meteorological information. Additionally, several different data communication systems are currently in use between the ground and those aircraft that are capable of delivering weather data.
Even where an aircraft might collect meteorological data, ground systems are typically unable to share the data with other aircraft because of differences among types of data utilized by the various communication systems, and because of the low number of aircraft capable of providing such data. The use of fragmented, unsynchronized, less-than-current and/or less-than-accurate meteorological data by various ground and air systems typically results in less-than-optimal aircraft fuel burn, flight plan, noise, environmental impact, and airspace capacity.